The Secret Lair

CC BY-NC-ND image from kurt_eh via Flickr

The Parsec Awards ceremony was held at Dragon*Con this past weekend, and I can think of no other award that is more opposite from the Hugos in a good way. Founded by Mur Lafferty, Michael Mennenga, and Tracy Hickman in 2006, the Parsecs are given yearly to recognize the art of creating a podcasted show across many categories of speculative fiction topics. There are several excellent things that stand out about the Parsec process, especially compared to something like the Hugos:

• Nominations can be done by anyone – During a specified time period, anyone can anonymously nominate any number of podcasts in the different Parsec categories online.¹ There’s no need to pay to be a member of an organization to do so.
• Each nominee gets the chance to put their best foot forward – Once nominated, each podcast is asked to submit a sample for consideration by the judges. This means that the construction of the sample is vastly important, as it is the specific content of the sample that will be judged against it’s peers, not the sum total of all of a given podcast’s shows over the past year. This also means that if a nominated podcast doesn’t submit a sample, they will not be considered for the award.²
• It’s not a popularity contest, but one of technical skill – The Steering Committee and a team of screeners listen to hundreds of hours of submitted samples and objectively score them to narrow down each category to five finalists. A separate team of judges, many of whom are not actively involving in podcasting, then judge the finalists in multiple criteria, including audio quality and presentation.

While it is a rigorous process for both the nominees and the judges, I think the end result is an artistic skill-based award that recognizes both excellence in all aspects of constructing a podcast, as well as the hard work involved. I always enjoy seeing the list of winners and nominees, as it invariably points me towards shows I’ve never heard of, but are more than worthy of being checked out. Not that anyone needs to listen to anything beyond The Secret Lair’s own show, of course. Congratulations to the winners for 2011!

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2011 Parsec Awards Winners and Finalists

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Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form) – “Saying the Names” by Maggie Clark (from Lightspeed Magazine) [subscribe]
Finalists:
“The Astonishing Amulet of Amenartas” by Nathan Lowell (from Tales from the Archives) [subscribe]
“Loyalty” written by Renee Jordan; edited and performed by Arioch Morningstar (from Tuesday Terror) [subscribe]
“Neighbors” by Eddy Jones, read by Arioch Morningstar (from Tuesday Terror) [subscribe]
“The Taste of Starlight” by John R. Fultz (from Lightspeed Magazine) [subscribe]

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Best Speculative Fiction Story (Novella Form) – Kissyman & the Gentleman by Scott Sigler [subscribe]
Finalists:
Act of Will by M. Darusha Wehm [subscribe]
FRANK – Vol.01: Boiling Point by Neil Colquhoun [subscribe]
The Hidden Institute by Brand Gamblin [subscribe]
Marco and the Red Granny by Mur Lafferty [subscribe]

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Best Speculative Fiction Story (Long Form) – Owner’s Share by Nathan Lowell [subscribe]
Finalists:
Ancestor (2010 edit) by Scott Sigler [subscribe]
The Prince of Hazel and Oak by John Lenahan [subscribe]
Secret World Chronicle by Veronica Giguere [subscribe]
Valhai by Gillian Andrews [subscribe]

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Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama (Short Form) – The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd by Grant Baciocco & Doug Price [subscribe]
Finalists:
BrokenSea Doctor Who by Paul Mannering, Mark Kalita, & Stevie K. Farnaby [subscribe]
The Dixie Stenberg and Brassy Battalion Adventure Theater by Pendant Productions [subscribe]
“A Place So Foreign” by Cory Doctorow (from Dunesteef) [subscribe]
“This Must Be The Place” by Elliot Bangs (from Dunesteef) [subscribe]

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Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama (Long Form) – HG World by Jay Smith (3015 North Studios) [subscribe]
Finalists:
Decoder Ring Theatre by Gregg Taylor [subscribe]
The GearHeart by Alex White [subscribe]
Star Trek: Excelsior by James Heaney [subscribe]
Tales of the Extraordinary by Michael Coleman [subscribe]
We’re Alive by Kc Wayland & Shane Salk (Modern Myth Productions) [subscribe]

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Best Speculative Fiction Video Story – Grant’s Advent Calendar Video Podcast [subscribe]

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Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast – Drabblecast [subscribe]
Finalists:
Dark Fiction Magazine [subscribe]
The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine [subscribe]
Escape Pod [subscribe]
Flash Pulp [subscribe]

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Best New Speculative Fiction Podcaster/Team – Cobalt City Adventures Unlimited [subscribe]
Finalists:
The Ballad of Iron Percy [subscribe]
The Doctor Who Podcast [subscribe]
Redline Theatre [subscribe]
Tuesday Terror [subscribe]

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Best Speculative Fiction Fan or News Podcast (Specific) – PodCulture: TARDIS Interruptus [subscribe]
Finalists:
The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast [subscribe]
Pendant Backstage [subscribe]
This Week in Pendant [subscribe]
Tuning in to SciFi TV [subscribe]

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Best Speculative Fiction Fan or News Podcast (General) – WhatTheCast [subscribe]
Finalists:
Geek Out With Mainframe [subscribe]
PodCulture [subscribe]
Scifi Diner [subscribe]
StarShipSofa [subscribe]

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Best Podcast about Speculative Fiction Content Creation – Fullcast Podcast [subscribe]
Finalists:
Adventures in Scifi Publishing [subscribe]
Get Published [subscribe]
I Should Be Writing [subscribe]
Podcast Teardown [subscribe]

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Best Fact Behind the Fiction Podcast – Planetary Radio [subscribe]
Finalists:
Astronomy Cast [subscribe]
Skepticality [subscribe]
The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe [subscribe]
Skeptoid [subscribe]

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Best Speculative Fiction Comedy/Parody Podcast – Technorama [subscribe]
Finalists:
comedy4cast [subscribe]
Dragon*ConTV [subscribe]
Geologic Podcast [subscribe]
Requiem of the Outcast [subscribe]

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Best Speculative Fiction Music Podcast – Renaissance Festival Podcast [subscribe]
Finalists:
The Funny Music Podcast [subscribe]
The GeekSpin [subscribe]
Radio Free Hipster [subscribe]

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Best Youth Driven Speculative Fiction Podcast
(Trial Category for 2011) – Aaron’s World [subscribe]
Finalists:
Princess Scientist’s Book Club [subscribe]

1. This year, there was an overall record number of nominations. [↩]
2. This year was the first to see a category with one finalist: Best Speculative Fiction Video Story. While several shows were initially nominated, including The Guild, only Grant’s Advent Calendar submitted a sample for consideration and so was eligible for the award. [↩]

Tags: John Cmar, Parsec Awards

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 8th, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under Memoranda. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.